Fly-excluding attachment for screen-doors.



No. 767,441. x PATENTED AUG;16,1'904..

' J. M. ROBINSON. FLY EXCLUDING ATTACHMENT FOR SCREEN nouns.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12, 1904. x0 MODEL.

Patented August 16, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT E icE.

JOSIAH MANSEL ROBINSON, OF HASTINGS, NEBRASKA.

FLY-EXCLUDING ATTACHMENT FOR SCREEN-DOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters lat'ent No. 767,441, dated August 16, 1904.

A li ati n fil d January 12,1904. Serial No. 188,706. (No model.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosIAH MANsEL Ron- INSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hastings, in the county of Adams and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Fly-Excluding Attachment for Screen- Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to attachments to doors, more particularly screen-doors, for preventing flies and other insects from entering when the door is opened and also for automatically closing the door, and has for its object to improve the construction and produce a device of this character simple in construction, easily applied and operated, and which may be applied with equal facility to double doors and to doors swinging in both directions through the doorway-opening.

TVith these and other objects in view, which will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

1n the accompanying drawings, forming a a part of this specification, and in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, is illustrated the preferred form of the embodiment of the invention capable of carrying the same into practical operation, it being understood that the invention is not necessarily limited thereto, as various changes inthe shape, proportions, and general assemblage of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages, and the right is therefore reserved of making all the changes and modifications which fairly fall within the scope of the invention and the claims made therefor.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents the upper portion of a double screen-door with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is a plan view of portions of the contiguous or meeting edges of the doors with the corresponding portions of the improved device attached. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the upper portion of one of the doors with the corresponding portion of the improved device attached.

The improved device may be attached to any form of swinging door in any locality where flies, mosquitoes, or other similar insects abound and which it is desirable to exclude, but is more particularly applicable to screen-doors and for the purpose of illustration is shown thus applied, the frame and casing 10 and doors 11 being of the usual construction.

The device is shown applied to double doors for swinging in both directions through the doorway-opening to show the scope of the invention; but it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to single doors and to doors swinging in one direction only.

The improved device consists of spring-controlled rollers 12, mounted for vertical rotation adjacent to the free edges of the doors, as by lower brackets 13 and upper brackets 14. The spring-controlled rollers will preferably be ordinary spring curtain-rollers, which fully meet the required conditions, and to support them detachably in position the brackets 14 are formed with open slots, in which the flat pivots 16 of the rollers are seated to prevent rotation and retained in place when in operation by swinging stoplatches 17, having recesses to embrace the pivots. By this simple means the rollers are held in the same manner as the rollers are held upon ordinary window casings or frames and readily detachable, as required, when the springs are to be adjusted. The rollers 12 are armed with radiating brush members 18, which may be of light muslin or other similar fabric cut into strips and preferably applied in scroll form, winding around the rollers longitudinally.

Attached by one end to the roller 12, preferably near its upper end, is a cord 19, wound about the roller, as a drum, and with the other end connected to a bracket 20 on the door frame or casing 10. The cord will be wound upon the drum reversely to the spring within the roller 12, so that the tension of the spring will be exerted to maintain the cord, tightly wound up, and thus hold the door yieldably closed. \Vhen the door is opened, the cord in unwinding from the roller will rapidly rotate it in one direction and cause the brush member 18 to be rapidly rotated and drive all lies and other insects away from the door, and when the door is released the spring-roller in its return movement will rapidly rotate the brush in the opposite direction and at the same time automatically close the door by rewinding the cord on the roller, as will be obvious. The brush member is thus rapidly rotated both in opening and closing the door and all the flies and other insects effectually driven away from the doorway.

A guard member 21, preferably of wire, is attached to the door to serve as a keeper to guide the cord in winding upon and unwinding from the roller, and embedded in the door opposite the guard member 21 is a guideroller 22, over which the cord runs while the door is opening and closing to prevent the cord being worn over the edge of the door.

The bracket 1 1 is provided with a vertical web 23, having a bearing for the pivot of a roller 25, by which one end of the roller is rotatively mounted, the other end. of the roller being similarly mounted by a pivot in a bracket 27 on the door near its hinged edge and also near its upper edge. The roller 25 is thus horizontally mounted for rotation near the upper edge of the door and is armed with a brush member 28, similar to the brush member 18 on the spring-roller 12. The adjacent ends of the rollers 12 and 25 are provided with in terengaging bevel-gears 29 30, whereby the rotary motion of the roller 12 is communicated to the roller 25. By this arrangement it will be noted when the door is opened and closed the rollers 12 25, with their attached brush members, will be rapidly rotated near the upper portion of the door, where the flies accumulate, and efl'ectually drive them away and prevent them passing through the doorwayopening.

lVhen applied to double doors, the central hanger or bracket 20 will be attached to the frame opposite the juncture or meeting-point of the doors, to which the ends of the cords 19 will be connected, so that the doors may be independently operated. The doors will be cut away slightly to permit them to pass the hanger 20 in opening.

It will be noted that the presence of the brush-rollers, brackets, and other attachments does not interfere with the movement of the door in any manner and they may be applied to double-acting doors or those swinging entirely through the doorways, as will be obvious.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. The combination with a door, of upright and transverse fly-brushes mounted thereon and connected for simultaneous rotation, and means connected to one of the brushes and to the door-frame for rotating said brush during the opening of the door.

2. The combination with a door of angularly related rotatable fly brushes carried thereby, one of the brushes being spring-actuated, meshed. gears carried by the brushes, and means connected to the spring-actuated. brush and to the door-frame to rotate said brush during the opening of the door.

3. The combination with a swinging door, o'ta rotatable fly-brush carried thereby, a cord wound upon the fly-brush and extending across the free edge of the door into connection with the door-frame, an antitriction-roller carried by the free edge of the door and receiving the cord, and a cord-guide carried by the door and located between the roller and the brush.

4. The combination with a door, of a springcontrolled roller vertically mounted for rotation adjacent to the free edge of the door, and provided with brush members, said roller having a bevel-gear upon its upper end, a sul stantially horizontal roller mounted for rotation upon said door at its upper end and provided with brush members, said roller having a bevelgear operatively engaging the gear upon said spring-roller, and a cord wound upon said sprmgroller and connected to the door-casing by its free end, whereby the opening and closing of the door will cause the rapid simultaneous rotation of said brushsupporting rollers adjacent to the side and upper end of the door and doorway-opening.

5. The combination with a door,ot a bracket attached thereto adjacent to the upper outer corner of its free edge and formed with a hori zontal web and a vertical web, said vertical web having an aperture forming a rollerbear ing and said horizontal web having an open slot, a swinging latch to close the slot, a spring-controlled roller having brush members and with one of its journals held from rotating in said open slot and retained therein by said latch, a roller having brush members and mounted for rotation in the bearing in said vertical web, said rollers having interengaging gear-wheels on their contiguous ends, and a cord wound around said springcontrolled roller and connected by its free end to the door frame or casing.

6. The combination of a door-frame having two doors mounted to swing therein with their tree edges contiguous, spring-controlled upright rollers having brush members and mounted for rotation adjacent to the free contiguous edges of said doors and provided said depending bracket and Wound around with bevel-gears at the upper ends, subthe respective spring-controlled rollers. stantially horizontal rollers mounted for ro- In testimony that I claim the foregoing as tation adjacent to the upper edges of said my own Ihave hereto affixed my signature in 5 doorslandllhaving brush melnibers, said horithe presence of two Witnesses.

zonta ro ers iaving beve gears engaging the bevel-gears on said spring-controlled JOSIAH MANSEL ROBINSON rollers, a bracket depending from the door Witnesses: frame or casing in alinement with the junc- L. A. DAILY, I0 ture of said doors, and cords connected to E. H. SPICER. 

